Y'all should know the score by now. I'm Grim Kim, I probably hate your favorite band, and I'm going to spend the next couple paragraphs telling you exactly why you NEED to be listening to whatever band I've decided to write about this time. Got it? Good. I just got back from Obscene Extreme Fest in the Czech Republic, and my need for speed is still in hyperdrive. No time for sludge this week. Less talk, more grind!
Meet Flagitious Idiosyncrasy in the Dilapidation, an originally all-girl (they've recently added a male guitarist) grindcore quartet based outta Tokyo, Japan. These chicks make Angela Gossow look like your sweet Auntie Mabel, and shit all over the idea that "girls can't play metal."
While it's true that most of the pretty, perfectly-made up faces you see splashed across the covers of this-and-that magazine and simpering out at you from whatever "metal" countdown show Fuse's decided to do this week can't scream a lick, and invariably front commercial-type bands that can only be described as "godawful," there's always the odd group of women out there tearing shit up and holding their own in the testosterone-fueled world of extreme metal. I'm not much of a feminist, but I do hate seeing the sort of role models younger chicks are exposed to. How is my little sister ever going to get into good tunes if the most "extreme" band she can relate to is Lacuna Coil or fucking In This Moment – bands that say, "It's okay for girls to like metal, but only if it's melodic and inoffensive and accessible; leave the heavy stuff to the boys, dear, and make sure those pants make your ass look good"?
FUCK. THAT. The ladies of Flagitious Idiosyncrasy in the Dilapidation (who will henceforth be referred to as "F.I.D." because their full name is impossible to type properly on the first try) are easy on the eyes, but focusing on that will leave you stranded about as far from the point as you can get. The point, my friends, is total fucking destruction. F.I.D. play fast, filthy, furious grindcore in the vein of Insect Warfare, Phobia, and Captain Cleanoff that verges on powerviolence in its pure disregard for the listener's eardrums and flirts with the occasional Corrupted groove. At times echoing her better-known warsisters in Gallhammer, Makiko's vocals veer between high-pitched, frenzied shrieks and a knuckle-dragging death grunt that would do their countrymen in Coffins proud, while ostage, the band as a whole positively vibrate with kinetic energy (if you were lucky enough to catch 'em at Maryland Death Fest 2007, you're sure to remember their jaw-dropping performance). Two demos and a split 7" with Insect Warfare later, F.I.D. have finally scraped together a full LP's worth of primal crusty goodness; the self-titled record is available from Bizarre Leprous Productions, and is WELL worth the cash.
Oh, and as far as the name goes? They don't know what it means, either.
Play fast or die.
Check out a video interview and more live footage here
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